


Say You Want to Stay

by StarBurnedOut



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: F/M, Ficlet Collection, Fluff, Prompt Fill, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-19
Updated: 2021-03-27
Packaged: 2021-03-28 04:34:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,377
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30134067
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StarBurnedOut/pseuds/StarBurnedOut
Summary: A collection of short Scott/Malia prompt fills. Tags will be added as needed.1. "Dance with me."2. "I don't want to talk about it."
Relationships: Scott McCall/Malia Tate
Kudos: 10





	1. "Dance with me."

**Author's Note:**

> Not finding a whole lot of productivity with my longer fics lately, so I've been working on some short prompt fills instead. It's just nice to be able to complete some stuff again, and hopefully get some kind of regular posting schedule set up again. We'll see. Unlike with my other collection, Just Tell Me I Am Yours, these fics likely won't be set post-series, so they're probably going to be all over the place. I've got a couple written, and more ideas floating around my head, so we'll see what comes out. Enjoy!

Scott knew he was staring. It wasn’t intentional, wasn’t anything he was actively trying to do. He just couldn’t stop himself. No matter how often he tried to focus on something else, someone else, he always found his eye drawn back to her.

There was something about the way Malia danced, the way she moved that captivated him. He wasn’t sure exactly what it was, could never quite find the right words to describe it. Like a strange mixture of fluidity and aggression that he’d never seen in anyone else, soft and sharp at the same time. How she could be on her own on, just moving to the beat, and somehow make it seem as though all the people near her were revolving around her, reacting to her. He could see it now, like he could see it when she fought, that same dichotomy that made her so dangerous, so fascinating, and he couldn’t look away.

It had almost gotten him in trouble more than once. He’d find himself watching her, appreciating what she did, what she could do, and realise he’d been looking just a little too long, a little too closely. It was the kind of thing that was hard to explain when an eagle-eyed friend caught him in the act and started asking questions, started putting two and two together. He could only tell them to mind their own business so many times. Which was why he was usually more careful.

Tonight, at this party, he wasn’t as worried about anybody seeing, catching on. As far as his friends knew, he wasn’t there, was still at the clinic, working his usual Friday night shift. They didn’t know he’d cut out early, and he hadn’t passed any of them on the way into the house, so he was in the clear.

Where he was standing, leaning against the wall, he was partially covered by shadows, so it took Malia a few moments to spot him. He wasn’t certain if it was just his imagination playing with him, but he thought he saw her eyes light up when she finally did notice him, as she grinned and beckoned him on, a clear invitation to join her.

“Dance with me,” she mouthed, extending both hands in his direction.

It was an enticing proposition, but dancing wasn’t his favourite thing to do, and he was feeling pretty good about his current position. The view was great, and he was a lot less likely to make a fool of himself if he kept his feet firmly rooted to the floor.

“Sorry,” he mouthed back, throwing up his arms, reflexively mirroring her expression. “I can’t.”

Her eyes narrowed, lips twisting into a frown, but she kept insistently motioning, ignoring his attempts to wave her off, and after a brief moment’s resistance, he gave in. Being closer to her was far from a bad thing, and it wasn’t like he could tell her why he was reluctant, that he was having too much fun watching her on her own. Not without sounding like a creep, anyway.

Weaving his way across the crowded room, he met her in the middle, laughing when she immediately grasped his arm and turned, giving him no choice but to move with her. From there, she didn’t have to try very hard to get him dancing, the two of them quickly falling into a natural rhythm, but she never dropped her hands, kept a grip on his arms instead. It was loud enough to make conversation difficult, so neither tried. It was just the two of them moving to the music, forced close by the press of bodies around them, reacting to each other without thought, all reflex and chemistry.

Despite his initial hesitation, Scott was quick to lose himself in the moment. He’d never considered himself a particularly good dancer, but with her, it was fun. It was easy. And maybe a little frustrating, being so close to her, brushing up against her, but he tried not to think about that. He tried not to think about the warmth of her hands on his bare skin, the scent of her hair as she tossed her head back, sent it dancing around her. He tried not to think at all.

It felt good, she smelled good, and they were having a good time. That was it. That was all that mattered.

Caught up in the easy movement, in her, he lost track of time, of the changing music, of everything outside their little bubble. He had no idea how long they’d been going when she suddenly hooked her arms over his shoulders and leaned in close. Hands going to her hips, he held her as they swayed together, gaze focused on her face. He couldn’t have looked away if he wanted to, mesmerised by the flush in her cheeks, the slight curl of her lips, the brightness in her eyes.

“You’re staring,” she mouthed, amusement clear as day on her face.

Under other circumstances, he probably would have been embarrassed to be caught so openly appreciating her. Most of the time, he liked to think he did a pretty good job of keeping what he was feeling, good or bad, to himself. But in the moment, he couldn’t bring himself to worry about any of that. It was that kind of night, he was in that good of a mood, and he was feeling a lot more confident than usual. Instead, a lazy grin slowly spread across his face as he gave her waist a squeeze.

“Am I?”

For just a second, she was still, studying him closely, appraising, before she leaned in closer, bringing her mouth to his ear. “You are.” Even with no space between them, so close he could feel her lips against his skin, he could barely hear her. “See something you like?”

When she pulled back, there was a knowing smirk on her face, and something in her eyes, burning in their depths. It wasn’t a look he’d seen before, not from her, not aimed at him, and it did something to him, had a fire flaring to life in his belly, different from anything just being with her, moving with her had brought before. It was a challenge, pure and simple, and he couldn’t have passed it up if he wanted to.

“Yeah.” He paused, not quite a hesitation, more like a deep breath before a head-first dive into unknown waters. “I see you.”

He wasn’t sure how long those words hung there, between them, barely audible and loud as thunder at the same time. It could have been two seconds. It could have been a hundred years. All he knew was he suddenly couldn’t hear the music or the people anymore, couldn’t see them, couldn’t smell them. It was like they weren’t even there. It was just the two of them, locked in that moment, in a staring contest without end. Until she grinned, mouth slowly curving into a smoldering smile that sent his pulse racing, had a burst of anticipation going off inside him like a bomb.

“Finally.”

There was no warning for what came next. She just leaned in and kissed him, lips slanting over his hard, almost bruising, and he was more than happy return the effort. It was exactly how he thought she’d kiss, aggressive, demanding, passionate, but somehow better than he could have imagined in every way. And the last thought he had before his mind went blissfully blank was a simple one.

Accepting her invitation to dance was the best decision he’d ever made.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not a whole lot to this one. It's something I've done before, sort of, if you've read Simplicity. I enjoyed writing it. Hope you liked it too!


	2. "I don't want to talk about it."

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Malia has a bad day and ends up going to Scott for company.

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

Those were the only words Malia had said in the hour since she’d shown up at his door. He’d answered her knock and she’d grated them out through clenched teeth as she brushed by him, her bad mood radiating off her in waves. He could almost see her sadness, her anger swirling in the air around her as he'd followed her into the living room, where she’d planted herself on the couch and stared woodenly at the tv.

To say Scott wanted to know what had her so upset would be a massive understatement. Not only because he was curious, but because he was concerned. She was his friend, one of his best friends, one of the people he was closest to. They’d been spending a lot of time together lately, growing closer, and seeing her like this had his protective instincts going into overdrive. Sitting next to her, seeing her in pain, it hurt him. Something was wrong, and he wanted to help, wanted to do whatever he could, whatever he had to do to make it better. But he wasn’t going to question her, wasn’t going to pry, wasn’t going to probe. He respected her too much for that. She didn’t want to talk, and he wasn’t about to try and make her. She’d tell him when she was good and ready. He could wait.

Over the course of the hour, as some mindless action movie blared away on the tv, he watched her out of the corner of his eye. She barely moved, barely blinked, just sat there, her arms crossed, vision never straying from the screen. If he was anything other than what he was, he wouldn’t have known her mood was gradually improving, the heavy scent of her negative emotions slowly bleeding off, not quite as sharp, not quite as potent as when she’d arrived.

“I’m sorry.”

She’d been dead silent so long, hearing her suddenly speak caught him off-guard. He almost jumped, catching himself just in time, and biting back the initial urge to smile, happy she was finally speaking again. Instead, he looked over at her, found her looking back, a heavy frown on her face.

“Sorry for what?” he asked, keeping his voice as soft as possible. It wouldn’t do to spook her back into silent mode.

Huffing out a breath, she gestured toward herself and grimaced. “For… this.”

He arched an eyebrow. “For coming over?”

“For showing up here and being all pissy. I just…” Trailing off, she let out a growl, eyes briefly flaring blue before she wrestled herself back under control. “It’s not your problem,” she said, voice tight, carefully restrained. “I don’t want to make it your problem. I just… I had to get away. I had to get out of my house. I needed to go… _somewhere_.”

Instead of responding, he took a second just to look at her, watch the play of emotions across her face as she stared back at him, trying and failing to keep her feelings from spilling out. She’d spoken first, which meant she wanted to talk, wanted to tell him what was wrong. He didn’t need to press.

“I… do you know what today is?” she asked after a moment, quiet, barely above a whisper. He shook his head once, eyes never leaving hers. “It’s my parents’ anniversary. They got married twenty years ago today. And my dad—” Her voice broke, and he felt his heart clench as her expression abruptly went blank. “You know what? Never mind. I don’t need to drag you down with me. I’m gonna go.”

She went to pull away, started rising to her feet, but he cut her off, reaching for her arm before she could clear the couch. She froze the second his fingers touched her wrist, fixed him with a steely glare, but he didn’t back down, just looked back at her, kept his grip as loose as possible, barely touching, something she could break without any effort at all. If she wanted to go, he wasn’t going to try to stop her. But despite her words, he wasn’t getting the sense that was what she really wanted. Running away, staying quiet might be easier, but he wanted to give her the chance to stay, to try and figure things out.

“You don’t need to tell me anything,” he told her, voice low, intense. “If you want to leave, I understand. If you just want to sit here and watch the rest of this shitty movie with me, that’s fine too. But if you want to talk, I’ll listen. Okay?” She swallowed heavily, nodded, the slightest movement of her head as she settled back down. “It’s up to you.”

For a second, she remained silent, and he wasn’t sure if he’d gotten through to her or not. He kept his hand on her arm, hoping a little human connection would ground her, get her to decide if opening up was what she wanted or not.

“It’s my dad,” she finally said, and he flashed her a reassuring smile. “I guess this date’s always hard for him. It was the same thing last year. He just… memories, y’know?” He nodded, but kept his mouth closed, not wanting to interrupt now. “He sort of loses himself, gets real sad, and it’s just… it’s a lot. And I tried to stay with him, tried to cheer him up, but nothing works. The house just gets…” She growled again, bared her teeth, hand clenching into a tight fist. “It just _fills up_ with everything he’s feeling, all that sadness, that anger, that pain, and I couldn’t—I couldn’t breathe anymore. I couldn’t take it. I had to get out of there, away from him. I had to leave before I said or did something to make it worse. I had to get away.”

The more she talked, the quicker the words came out, flooding out of her now that the dam had burst. She was breathing heavily now, a tic in her jaw working overtime as she looked at him, and he abruptly realised she was waiting for him to respond.

Frozen, Scott frowned, unsure of what to say. He understood, on a very basic level, what it was like to feel somebody else’s anguish like that. It was something he’d experienced before, his senses, like hers, coming with almost as many cons as pros. But not on the level she was talking about, with so much personal loss, never over something as significant, as life-changing as what her dad had gone through. And never with the kind of guilt he knew she still lived with, the personal responsibility she felt for the death of her mom and sister. That had to be slithering through her mind, insidiously complicating everything, making it all that much worse.

As much as he would have liked to find the magic words, the perfect thing to say to make her feel better, he couldn’t. There was nothing he could say that was going to make that situation better, and he had a strong feeling she wasn’t looking for his input, or any kind of solution. All he could do was offer whatever comfort, whatever support he could as she worked through it on her own.

With that in mind, he let go of the grip he had on her wrist, grasped her hand instead. Again, he kept it loose, let her do what she wanted with it, an open offer. Her response was to turn her hand over, lace her fingers through his, a physical connection, a lifeline.

“Did it help? Getting away, I mean?”

She was quiet for a second, considering. “Yeah, I guess it did. It’s…” She sighed, maybe the weariest sound he’d ever heard her make, and shook her head. “Being there with him, feeling all that, it’s brutal. It’s like a feedback loop of fucking awful. He feels bad, I pick up on it, and it makes me feel bad. He sees that, and feels even worse, and it just keeps going in a circle.” He could see the sadness in her eyes as she took a deep breath and slowly blew it out. “Just getting out, getting away from that, it helps. Helps clear the head, y’know? It was hard to think clearly there. Here, it's better.”

“Do you think it helped him?”

“Maybe. I know he wanted to be alone.” She sighed again, heavy. “I guess I’ll find out.”

“You know you can stay here, right?” he said, giving her hand a gentle squeeze. “As long as you need to.”

The smile she shot him was fragile, but genuine, and it relieved him to see it. “Thanks, Scott. Maybe, um, maybe just tonight? He’ll be better by tomorrow. He always is. But it might be best if I just give him the night to… to remember.”

“Yeah, absolutely.” The spare room was there, always set up and ready to go. He had no doubts his mom would understand, wouldn’t have any problems with her spending the night. Not under any circumstances, but especially not under these. “Whatever you need.”

This time, her smile was wider, stronger, a lot closer to normal than he’d seen from her all night. “I appreciate that. Really. Would it be cool if I crashed now?” Her smile turned sheepish. “It’s been a long day.”

“Yeah, no, go ahead.” He nodded toward the stairs. “You know where the room is. Actually, wait a second,” he said, rising to his feet as she did, their hands still interlocked. She looked back to him, questioning look on her face, as he hesitated for a second. “Can I ask you something?”

“Sure,” she said slowly, one eyebrow raised.

“Why did you come here tonight?” He winced almost as soon as the question left his mouth, painfully aware of how rough it sounded. “Sorry, I mean, I’m glad you did. I’m glad I could… help, or whatever it was I did here. I just—I would have thought, maybe Lydia would have been your first choice—”

“Lydia would have pushed,” she interjected, cutting him off as she turned to face him fully. “She would never have stopped asking questions from the second I walked through her door. Same with Stiles. They…” She trailed off, huffed out a little amused breath. “They would have wanted to help so bad, they couldn’t have stopped themselves. And I just… that’s not what I needed.” Smiling again, she extended her other hand for him to take, which he did, eyes locked on hers. “What I needed was time, and I knew you’d give it to me. I knew you wouldn’t press, you’d let me deal with it how I needed to. You’re good at being there for somebody and giving them space at the same time, Scott. You're good at making people feel safe.”

He could hear the sincerity in her voice, could see it written all over her face, and couldn’t help but smile. There were a lot of things he strived to be in life, as a person, as a leader, as a human being. A good friend, somebody the people he cared about most could come to when they needed to was at the very top of that list.

“Glad I could help,” was what he managed to say, voice a little hoarse with emotion.

Silence reigned for a moment after that, as they both simply stood there, hands together, looking at each other. There wasn’t really anything left for him to say, and it felt like she’d said all she was going to. But there was something there, a pull, keeping him from letting her go, and she wasn’t pulling away.

When she suddenly did move, it caught him off-guard. Rather than letting him go, turning away, she abruptly leaned in closer, brought her mouth to his in a brief kiss. It wasn’t much, barely more than a brushing of their lips, and then she was pulling away, the slightest of smiles on her face.

“Thank you, Scott.” He just nodded, not sure what to say, how to react. “Good night.”

“Good night,” he whispered, hands sliding into his pockets as he watched her turn and make her way up the stairs. Even after she disappeared from view, he stayed still, just staring at nothing. It was only when he heard the door to the spare room close that he finally moved, sinking back down on the couch and blowing out the breath he’d been holding since she’d kissed him.

He had a lot to think about.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was an attempt to do something a bit heavier than the fluff I usually write. Hope you like it!


End file.
